In the desolate wasteland of Arizona’s Superstition Mountains the remnants of an ancient volcano towers high above the barren landscape – a bright, shining beacon to prospectors and treasure hunters from around the world.

It’s called Weaver’s Needle, and for more than 120 years fortune seekers have been inexorably dawn to this ancient spire which, according to legend, holds the key to the richest and most famous treasures in the history of the American West… The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine.

In the last 120 years since it began, the legend of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine has been told and retold hundreds of times, morphing with each generation. There are now so many variations on the legend that it’s hard to know what’s fact and what is just the embellishment of some turn of the century newspaper reporter.

The one constant in all the variations seems to be Weavers Needle. All the Dutchman’s clues seem to focus around this rocky spire, and the search for treasure usually begins there.

Most experts agree that the mine, if it exists at all, will eventually be found in the dry, twisted tangle of canyons that surround the superstition mountains. So it’s there we will begin…

The Superstitions

The Superstition Mountain Range covers approximately 160,000 acres of desolate, rugged terrain forty miles east of Phoenix, Arizona.

The story of gold in the Superstitions dates back centuries, and interestingly, has it’s roots tangled with another famous treasure Tale – The search for Cibola – also known as “The Seven Golden Cities of Gold”.

In 1540, trying to repeat the enormous success of his predecessors Francisco Pizarro, and Hernan Cortez, a Conquistador by the name of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado came north from Mexico, bisecting Arizona in a quixotic quest for the fabled lost cities of gold.

Coronado’s expedition passed near the Superstitions and learns from the local Apache indians that the mountains are considered sacred by the tribe. The indians tell the Spaniards that if they dare trespass on the sacred ground their Thunder God would take revenge upon them, causing tremendous suffering and horrible deaths.

The Spaniards may have heeded the warning and passed right on through the desolate terrain which the indians called the “Devil’s Playground,” but one of the Apaches mentions that the mountains also happenes to hold rich deposits of gold bearing ore.

That was all the Spaniards needed to hear. They immediately began exploring the mountains. According to legend it didn’t take long for them to find the gold deposits. But their elation was short lived.

Men began to mysteriously vanish. Orders were given to never stray more than a few feet away from the rest of the group. Still, more men disappeared only to be found later, their bodies mutilated and their heads cut from their bodies.

Eventually the conquistadors fled, refusing to return to the mountain, which they dubbed Monte Superstition – “Superstition Mountain”.

The Peraltas

Two centuries later, In 1748, the Superstitions, as well as 3,750 square miles of what is now Arizona, were given to Mexican cattle-baron, Don Miguel Peralta of Sonora, in a land grant.

Peralta, perhaps using information passed down by survivors of the Coronado expedition, discovered a rich mine and soon he was shipping millions of pesos in pure gold back to Sonora.

During the next century the Peralta family and their laborers would make periodic forays into Arizona, bringing out rich loads of ore. However, aware of the Apaches’ mounting displeasure, they kept these mining trips to a minimum, not wanting to risk the wrath of the Apaches.

In 1847, with the Mexican War in full swing it looked as if Arizona might soon became part of the United States, so one of Don Miguel Peraltas descendants; Pedro, led a contingent of 400 men to the Superstition Mountains. The Spanish miners attacked the mountain with a rabid gold fever, hoping to extract as much gold as possible before the mine was lost to the Americans.

This blatant desecration of the Apaches sacred mountain angered the indians like never before and they began raising a large force to drive Pedro Peralta and his men from the area.

Peralta got word of the impending attack and withdrew his men from the mine. He packed up his mules and wagons with the gold they had mined in preparation for the journey back to Mexico. Because Pedro hoped to return someday, he took elaborate precautions to conceal the entrance to the mine and to wipe out any trace that they had ever worked there.

Early the next day, he assembled his men and headed for home…. but they never made it.